


The Man with Three Graves

by IonaNineve



Category: Person of Interest (TV)
Genre: "death", CIA, Canonical Character Death, I'm Bad At Summaries, Jessica Arndt (mentioned) - Freeform, Kara Stanton (mentioned) - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-17
Updated: 2020-10-17
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:34:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27052732
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IonaNineve/pseuds/IonaNineve
Summary: Few People can be said to have died twice, even fewer can claim three.And for those deaths to all occur in a decade, well that's highly improbable, but only to be expected from the person who managed it.orThe stories surrounding how one man got three graves, under three different names. And how none got quite what they deserved.
Kudos: 7





	The Man with Three Graves

**Author's Note:**

> This was a piece I wrote a little while ago on maybe my 3rd watch of the series (and is my first and only POI fic).
> 
> The original last name for John that I use here is from someone's fic, that I can't for the life of me remember (I'm sorry), but I find that it fits nicely with the little we know of his name, so I'm using it here. If you know who that was or are them, let me know and I'll give credit.
> 
> Obviously, I don't own Person of Interest, that honor goes to people much more talented and with much bigger reputations than I.

The death of John H. Tallis was easily taken care of. With all his family dead there was no one to contact, no one to convince. Except an ex-girlfriend whom he had all but set aside and could be left in the dark regardless.   
Reports read that on November 13th, 2005, an attack during a transport resulted in one casualty; guarding the armored truck, Tallis had been caught in a grenade blast. No remains could be recovered. The falsified report was filed away, where no one has ever asked to see it, a duplicate attached to his personnel file.   
A white tombstone inscribed with name, rank, branch, dates of birth and death appeared in Arlington quietly, no fanfare, not even the show of a military funeral. A humble send off for the soldier it claimed to memorialize.  
Since its installment, it has been visited once. It was on this singular occasion, late at night, that the plot’s only contents were interred.  
\-------  
In late December of 2010 two stars were added to the wall at Langley. Agents John Reese and Kara Stanton, were officially declared dead. There was no one to notify in either case.  
Some say that the stars were etched before the ink was dry on their final mission report. A few would point out that it wasn’t the first time such a coincidence had occurred.   
The mission was classified, task and target redacted, as well as location (somewhere in Asia). If you asked the right people, they might tell you China; but its doubtful they would remember the specific mission of your inquiry.  
No remains were released or recovered due to the non-disclosed COD. Their files were closed and locked away.  
\---------  
It had been nearly two weeks since the ICE-9 virus had caused the mis-fire of a cruise missile, demolishing a New York office building; it had also been two weeks since one Detective John Riley had checked in with anyone at the 8th precinct. Remains of several persons, charred beyond physical recognition, had been found in the rubble. The DNA that had been sent out from these had just come back.  
As the only person with any real personal connection to the missing detective, Lionel Fusco was the one called into the captain’s office, already knowing what he’d hear. He was not disappointed. His partner in homicide had died in the incident. What surprised Fusco was learning he had been listed as executer and that Taylor Carter was the benefactor of Riley’s policy.  
Unable to contact his other associates, Fusco was left alone to make the arrangements, in times of silence cursing the man’s ability to remain the bane of his existence even in death.  
Detective John Riley’s fully cremated remains were buried under a simple tombstone, carried in by the guard of honor and sent off with a three-volley salute as an officer fallen in the line of duty. Civilian attendance of the funeral included a woman hanging around the shadows, a whining dog laying at her feet, as well as a very confused Taylor Carter and father.


End file.
